Double Bass Revolution SOLO Pickup Reviews

[uptonbass]

Buy the way customer support, my friend has a bass shop, and he emailed to Upton guys, that he likes to sell this pickups in my country, but they doesn't aswered. Off Course, since Hungary is a Europen Union country I can buy online from Germany easily, but strange...

We'd love to have your freind selling our pickup. Not responding...we don't do that. Please have him email me at [email protected] with any questions and have him check his spam folder. Something isn't adding up here.

Thanks Guys

 

[Barcza]

We'd love to have your freind selling our pickup. Not responding...we don't do that. Please have him email me at [email protected] with any questions and have him check his spam folder. Something isn't adding up here.

Thanks Guys

Thank you! I happy that you joining this conversation. I very interested the pickup, I tell my friend the good news. I currently use Full Circle but I not completely satisfied with it, I beware the Realist because can easily muddy and feedback on some basses.

 

[engedi1]

subbed

 

[devnulljp]

What would cause the Solo II to go ... "microphonic" is the only word I can think of to describe it. Lots of extraneous noise from the bass and variations in volume too.
It's been in a drawer for a while so I could try the K&K Bassmaster. I put it on a few days ago with the block on the bass side along with the K&K on the treble side, and the Solo is markedly hollower sounding, and seems to be picking up all the movement of my hand on the bass. Wondering if something's gone wrong (and if I can fix it).

Thanks

 

[uptonbass]

Start by playing with the position/location in the bridge. The wrong spot can render the pickup useless,and the right spot...ahhhh! Also if you have the bass max still in the bridge that will have a muting effect on the bottom end of what the RS can "hear".

Gary

 

[drurb]

It sounds to me as if the Rev Solo is too loose in the bridge wing. Search this thread for the terms "sweet spot" and "scotch tape." Do you have the "R side" facing away from the bass? That's the default orientation. See this thread as well.

 

[devnulljp]

Start by playing with the position/location in the bridge. The wrong spot can render the pickup useless,and the right spot...ahhhh! Also if you have the bass max still in the bridge that will have a muting effect on the bottom end of what the RS can "hear".

Gary

Thanks for the response. Think I need to send it in to have you refurbish it -- I wonder if I've oversanded it, or it's not even enough. I noticed position makes a difference but can't find your ahhhh! spot. Took the Bass max out too.
Thanks for all the input.

 

[LowNote]

Don't be afraid to slightly turn the RevSolo so that the edges of the wood block are not lined up with the top/bottom of the bridge. This was the thing that allowed me to find the perfect location, probably 7 years ago. I've never even considered another pickup since then and get constant positive feedback on the sound of the RevSolo from theatre sound men who take a feed from my AI Focus SIII. I run the RevSolo directly into the Focus, keeping the eq pretty much flat but varying the HiPass filter to suit the boominess of the room. I have the RevSolo installed on a LaScala Hybrid flatback.

Erik Hansen
Scotland

 

[Jake]

I have a K & K Bass Max on my bass right now and the G string sounds a little thin. Have any of you had that happen with bridge wing pickups mounted on the E string side? Is there a way to fix it?

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Maybe the soundpost is too close to the G-side bridge foot?

 

[jefff100]

Hi - Don't know if this is the right thread for this but I did a search on my symptoms and didn't come up with anything conclusive.

I have a Rev Solo pickup that came used with the Upton Hybrid bass I bought off CL a couple of years ago. The pickup was not installed when I bought the bass, and the seller no longer had the plastic mounting clip, just the wood block pickup with the attached wire and 1/4" female jack.

I recently fitted the pickup to the E side bridge wing, with the RS letter facing up. pickup is roughly centered in the foot of the bridge wing. It fit without any further sanding on my part and was a snug but not forced fit. Since I don't have the felt washer / plastic P-clip as described on the Upton Youtube video on pickup fitting, I wrapped the 1/4 female jack in a small strip of a clean cotton cloth as a cushion and used a couple of zip ties to strap it to the back side of the tailpiced on the G-string side.

Played it at the house through an MB200 amp into and Epifani UL-210 cab and it sounded fine. Of course you can only push things so hard in the living room.

Saturday I took it to the church when nobody was around to make use of the PA system and larger amp. I ran it through both my bass guitar rig (MB800 amp into Epifani UL-310 cab) and also tried using the MB200 amp as a preamp, and using its DI out into the church house PA system. Both ways i'm getting a considerable amount of clicking / clacking type finger noise when playing pizzicato (noise at the moment my right hand finger contacts the string). the pickup itself does not seem to be excessively loud, when just using the MB200 as a premp, but I didn't have much to compare it to. Using the either amp driving the a cabinet the volumes seemed suitable. Its the clacking noise that was the problem. Its not as loud as the sound of the note, but its lout enough to make a significant distraction, IE you would not want to use this of for performance.

Other than that the tone was fine. I brought my bow and tried some arco, but my arco skills are so poor that I'm not one to judge....however it solved the clacking noise problem !


thanks for your suggestion(s).

Jeff

 

[DoubleMIDI]

I think you didn't consider that not only the intended vibration of the note gets amplified, but also the noises the string makes when touched. Even with acoustic playing the noises are there, but you are used to blend them out. You can try to reduce the treble frequency range a bit, but generally adjust your playing so that the noises fall rhythmically on beats. It's not so much distracting that way.

 

[Jay Corwin]

I don't think the issue is the Rev, but piezo pickups in general. Probably my biggest issue using a piezo is trying to ignore finger noise. As MIDI said, it's always there acoustically but you don't notice it much over the notes. The louder you have to amplify, the louder ALL vibrations coming through the pickup are amplified.

You just have to find a happy medium between EQ'ing out some of the offending frequencies, while not squashing too much character out the overall tone. It seems like the never ending battle for upright amplification once you get past low volume amplification. The DI from the GK might not be the best buffer to get to FOH (I say might not because I haven't used this amp before). It might sound great through the cabinet, but that's not the same tone being sent to the board.

You can EQ some of it right out. You may also find that the audience doesn't even hear much of it at all depending on the band mix. I used to record some of my practice using a large diaphragm condenser mic in a room with no acoustic treatment. I was mortified by how much finger noise I heard. Then once I heard myself in a band mix recorded with the same mics, I relaxed about it because the only clacking I could hear was the stuff I was doing on purpose.

 

[drurb]

I wouldn't be so quick to associate your problem with the typical piezo ills. Having had a substantial amount of experience with the Rev Solos (both 1 and 2), I can tell you that excessive "finger noise" and clacking is usually indicative of a less-than-optimal fit. I suspect that it's not quite snug enough. I suggest placing a layer of cellophane tape over one surface and re-inserting it into the bridge wing. DoubleMidi and sevenyearsdown are, of course, correct that amplification applies to all aspects of the note. If anything, finger noise and "clacking" would be less apparent in a gigging situation. That's because those sounds are composed predominantly of high frequencies, which are the first to be masked. That's consistent with sevenyearsdown's description.

 

[tomeh]

I have replaced my old bridge and the gap on the wing of the new bridge is wider than the old one = pickup won't wedge into the opening, falls out.

I split a piece of maple from an old, junked bridge and sanded both sides to make a waffer.

I wedged it underneath (non label side) between the bottom of the bridge wing and the pickup and the top of the pickup now contacts in a small area, right over the label, on the top of the wing.

Sounds great again.

Now the question is has anyone glued a waffer like this onto the pickup before and if so, what advice and experience did you have doing so?

My theory was dense maple wing, to dense maple waffer creates a similar condition as it had in the old bridge and not a spruce sandwich (if I had used a spruce waffer).

I have tried soooooo many pickups and microphoes for live that I was ready to give when I then tried the Rev Solo. I take my hat off to the developers. It is the most natural sounding while still giving high performance levels before feedback of anything that I have tried. Thank You.

 

[Francois Blais]

You could also use a sax reed for shimming.
No need to glue the shim.

 

[tomeh]

You could also use a sax reed for shimming.
No need to glue the shim.

Thanks Francois, That would have beeen a better starting position for sure but I don't have any reed instruments to borrow from. I also believe that the pickup will probably stay in place with the maple waffer, but my tech side keeps saying in my ear " a little glue will make certain it isn't lost if it is knocked out?"

 

[Ric Vice]

Thanks Francois, That would have beeen a better starting position for sure but I don't have any reed instruments to borrow from. I also believe that the pickup will probably stay in place with the maple waffer, but my tech side keeps saying in my ear " a little glue will make certain it isn't lost if it is knocked out?"

While it may help I had an Underwood shimmed in place for several years, with no issues.

 

[Dr. Love]

I have replaced my old bridge and the gap on the wing of the new bridge is wider than the old one = pickup won't wedge into the opening, falls out.

You could also contact Upton and send the pickup in to be refurbished. I did this once with a Rev Solo that was sanded too thin and they put a new, full thickness wood casing on it and all is well.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[tomeh]

You could also contact Upton and send the pickup in to be refurbished. I did this once with a Rev Solo that was sanded too thin and they put a new, full thickness wood casing on it and all is well.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Thanks. Mine is in, the bottom is shimmed, sounding good, and not going anywhere.